Heat pump management of low-grade-heat in buildings

A method of managing low-grade-heat for water heating and building heating and cooling, comprising

• a. providing exact heat extraction via the use of a device for heat pumping in two phases, first phase and second phase, enabled with a device for thermal energy storage (TES);
• b. means for charging, or maintaining the thermal condition of, said thermal energy storage device in the second phase;
• c. means for discharging said thermal energy storage device with the operation of said heat pumping device in the first phase for delivering heat to or removing heat from a building space;
• whereby a low-grade-heat managing heat pump (LMHP) system operating as low-grade heat managing means, rather than as energy conversion means, with alternate charging and discharging phases resulting in flexibility in the operating timing of the charging phase, thus, building load flexibility and decoupling in building heating and cooling performance, substantially, from extreme weather impact.

A method of managing-low-grade-heat for building cooling and refrigeration, comprising

• a. providing exact heat extraction via the use of a device for heat pumping in two phases, first phase and second phase, enabled with a device for thermal energy storage (TES) of a predetermined heat capacity;
• b. means for charging, or precooling, said thermal energy storage device with the operation of said heat pumping means in the second phase;
• c. conditioning means for removing heat from a building space or refrigerated space by operating said heat pumping device in the first phase, in which the operation results in discharge in said thermal energy storage device's coolness;
• whereby the alternate TES precooling and TES discharging in its coolness resulting in flexibility in the operating timing of the precooling phase and, at the same time, reduction in peak load demand facilitating demand-response for air-conditioning and refrigeration.